Playstation 3

Tomorrow PlayStation 4 will get an update to system software version 2.50, codenamed “Yukimura,” which will bring an onslaught of new features: some you’ve been anticipating, many you’ve requested and others that might surprise you.

This update will make significant improvements to your PS4 experience, making it even more streamlined and enjoyable. Following the update, you’ll be able to smoothly pick games up right where you left off, find and connect with friends quicker, customise your experience and share your most epic moments in a more meaningful way.

Features coming to PS4 with “Yukimura” include:

Suspend/Resume: Supported by nearly all of your PS4 games, you can jump in and out of your games with just the press of the PS button. Quickly switch from Rest Mode to powered-up so you can pick up where you left off.

Back-up and restore HDD to USB: Back-up and restore your hard disc drive data associated with users on your PS4, including settings, saved data, screenshots and video clips as well as games, patches and download data, to and from an external USB drive.

Find and connect with friends: “Yukimura” adds to an already robust set of social tools, bringing several updates to continue making PS4 the best place to play with your friends, including:
-> Facebook friend finder – Using your linked account, you can expand your network by searching and connecting with your Facebook friends.-> Improved friend requests – Friend requests and Real Name requests can be sent together in one step when adding a friend on PS4.
-> Streamlined Party process – The process to create a Party has been streamlined with a reduction in the number of steps required.
-> Find friends who play your games – Easily view what friends are playing on each game detail page with a real-time “Friends Who Play This” section, which also highlights which friends are currently online and playing it, and allows you to jump directly into the game.
-> Join Friends directly from news feed – A new tile will be added on your What’s New feed where you can see what your friends are currently playing, enabling you to join in the game if you own it.

Share earned trophies and optimise your trophy list: We know that Trophies are important to many gamers, so we’re bringing more control with how you show them off:
-> Automatic Trophy screenshots – A screenshot will automatically be captured when a Trophy is earned, preserving the moment to share with friends.
-> SHARE Trophies – Players can share Trophy information to Facebook, Twitter or via Message by pressing the SHARE button.
-> Additional Trophy sorting options – Sort your Trophy list by Earned Date, Not Earned and Grade.
-> Delete 0% Trophies – Remove games from your Trophy list that have zero percent completion.

Improved and expanded accessibility options: New options added to customise the user experience include:
-> Customised button assignments for DUALSHOCK 4.
-> Zoom for displayed pictures and inverted colours for all system functions, apps and in-game.
-> Text-to-speech for all graphical user interface, including Message and Party.
-> Enlarged text for all graphical user interface, including Message and Party, as well as the system’s browser.
-> Bolder fonts and higher contrast UI for all system applications (but will not apply to games or third-party applications).

Remote Play and Share Play: For games that support 60 fps, users will be able to automatically enjoy those games with 60fps for both Remote Play and Share Play* on supported devices.

Sub-account upgrade: Enable users 18 years of age or older with sub-accounts to upgrade to a master account directly on PS4, removing restrictions on chat and enabling users to add funds to their Wallet, purchase content and more.

Verified Accounts: Select game developers, producers, designers and community managers will be verified with a badge.

PlayStation Vita and PlayStation App for smartphones and tablets will also receive system software updates tonight, adding complementary features to those added to PS4. PS Vita update version 3.50 and PlayStation App update version 2.50 will add new accessibility options, including enlarged text, increased contrast and more. This update also enables PS Vita to support 60fps streaming for Remote Play.

The update, which Sony has codenamed ‘Masamune’, will contain a host of new features, including theme support, enhancements to live broadcasting (which includes dedicated app support for YouTube and the ability to upload your gameplay footage directly to it), improved voice commands, and a USB music player that will allow us to insert a USB stick loaded with music into our PS4 and play our own music in the background while playing a game.

Masamune will also bring with it the long-awaited Share Play feature. Share Play “will create an online local co-op experience by allowing you to invite a friend to join your game—even when they don’t own a copy of it.” You’ll be able to play alongside a friend, or even invite them to temporarily take over the controls of the game you’re currently playing, “as if you were together in the same room.”

Sony first outlined PS4’s 2.0 firmware at Gamescom in August but, until now, Sony had not confirmed when it would be made available.

“Timing will be confirmed when there’s no chance of it changing,” responded SCEA director of product planning & software innovation Scott McCarthy in a comment to a reader on the PlayStation Blog last week.

The official changelog has been released by Rockstar, but it looks like GTA Online patch 1.09 just fixes few bugs and issue here and there. Furthermore, it has been confirmed by our reader “Alex” that hacked GTA$ are still present.

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The latest Grand Theft Auto adventure was due in spring. Now virtual criminals will have to wait until 17 September. Rockstar Games has finally announced a release date for Grand Theft Auto V, the latest in the company’s hugely successful series of gangster adventures. The game will hit Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles on 17 September. Originally, the publisher had mentioned the possibility of a spring release.

A message posted on the Rockstar Games website says:

We know this is about four months later than originally planned and we know that this short delay will come as a disappointment to many of you, but, trust us, it will be worth the extra time. GTAV is a massively ambitious and complex game and it simply needs a little more polish to be of the standard we and, more importantly, you require.

Set in the fictional city of Los Santos, a stylised version of Los Angeles, GTA V follows three lead characters as they carry out a series of increasingly audacious heists. The game is the most ambitious project in the long-running series, which has so far sold over 125 million units worldwide. The environment is larger than the previous two titles combined.

Alongside the inevitable next installment in the Call of Duty franchise, GTA V is expected to be the biggest video game release of 2013; it is an important title for the industry which has seen retail sales falling over the last year.